Martín Demichelis Tactics & Formations At River Plate 2023/2024 – Tactical Analysis

Some things come full circle in life.

Having started out as a youth player in the River Plate academy in the early ‘90s as an upcoming prospect, Martín Demichelis is back at Rio del la Plata as a bright, young coach, attempting to lead the Argentine giants in a new direction following the lengthy reign of Marcelo Gallardo.

Having left his native country twenty years ago for the lustrous land of Europe, Demichelis made a great career for himself playing for some of the continent’s biggest clubs, including Bayern Munich and Manchester City, gaining some valuable knowledge from the best coaches around, such as Louis van Gaal, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Manuel Pellegrini.

Pellegrini in particular has been cited as a massive inspiration for Demichelis, having worked under the Chilean coach at three different clubs in his playing career, picking up several trophies.

Nevertheless, the now-42-year-old also earned some great experience as the head coach of Bayern’s U19s and Bayern Munich II before taking the massive leap by succeeding Gallardo at River Plate.

While he’s still learning his trade, Demichelis has become somewhat of a tactical chameleon so far at the Estadio Mâs Monumental, which will be explained later in this analysis.

This Martín Demichelis tactical analysis piece will take a look at some of the more intriguing elements of the former defender’s tactics with Los Millonarios after just a few months in charge of the club.

Martín Demichelis Tactics & Formations

An ongoing debate in the analytics stratosphere is the discussion surrounding formations and whether their meaning has dwindled throughout the recent tactical development within the sport.

Some fall on the spectrum that formations no longer have much reason for existence, and that the roles of each player far outweigh set formational positions.

Pep Guardiola himself once labelled formations as mere ‘telephone numbers’.

Others believe that formations and shapes are highly beneficial tools for players to understand organisation and attacking as well as defending as a collective.

Then there are those who fall somewhere in the middle, believing that formations have some role, but they are not the be-all and end-all of football tactics.

When watching Demichelis’ River Plate, you can’t help but feel as though the ex-Argentina international leans closer to the first prong of the argument.

Wyscout have calibrated that the 4-2-3-1 has been the young coach’s preferred formation this season, a structure synonymous with Pellegrini, particularly over the last decade and a half.

But the 4-2-3-1 isn’t ahead by much.